Spaces focuses on the creative use of Cardiff’s urban landscape. Spaces appreciates and draws attention to the variety of beautiful places in our city that ordinarily go unnoticed.
Spaces goes off the beaten track
and explores places that have been put to an alternative and creative use.
Spaces looks at how communities
have harnessed the potential of the urban canvas and made the landscape their own.
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What do YOU think is the most creative use of space in Cardiff? Spaces consulted Twitter...
“It’s great to see empty shops being used for pop up galleries & creative spaces! Brings life & income into quieter areas.” - @CardiffSOAS Cardiff Open Art School offers art and design masterclasses to the public.
“The @afiach_DIY Wells Hotel squat/community centre in Riverside. Music, poetry, art, food, lovely ppl - great space!” - @mabjones Mab Jones is a Cardiff-based performance poet.
“@madeinroath make brilliant use of overlooked spaces, using them to exhibit artwork & encouraging folk to rediscover them.” - @milkwoodgallery Milkwood Gallery is an art gallery that exhibits contemporary and vintage design.
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land to mouth Vegetables can be found in the unlikeliest of places.
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What do you see when you wander through Cardiff? P
Flowers in the city
This is exactly how Farm Cardiff perceives our city. It may take some imagination to see all these potential growing spaces now, but this green-fingered group hopes that, with a little bit of love and care, Cardiff can be transformed into a self-sustaining city. Farm Cardiff arose from a year-long research project called Can Cardiff Feed Itself? which presented its findings last January. The project identifies the spaces in
Who has noticed the flowerbeds and vegetable patches of the future hidden away in Cardiff’s urban landscape? the city that have the potential for growing some food. This land is then mapped online, which allows people from the same area to gather together to develop the land into a miniature urban farm. Sam Holt, a member of the group, says,
Farm Cardiff has identified the following as areas for potential cultivation: »» Unused garden area at Sloper Road »» Pub car park at Leckwith Road »» Wild area at Kitchener Primary School »» Waste ground behind Tesco on Cowbridge Road »» The wall running along Fitzhamon Embankment
Photo courtesty of Flickr user wallygrom
robably most people have noticed the stone animals crawling over the wall of Bute Park. Most will have made eye contact with the statue of Aneurin Bevan on Queen Street once or twice. Those who are most observant might have spotted the five little monsters graffitied onto the bridge opposite Gassy Jacks. But how many can claim to have seen the potential farm land that is scattered through the streets? Who has noticed the flowerbeds and vegetable patches of the future hidden away in Cardiff’s urban landscape?
“The project itself started in spring but is still in infancy.” However, there are plenty of projects in the pipeline. He has discussed the creation of wildflower sites along the M4 corridor with River of Flowers, a group which supports the creation of wildflower corridors running through cities. Sam says, “Also in the pipeline is the potential secondary schools project, which will involve mapping areas for potential food growing with teenagers around the school and nearby community, and for them to develop an interactive film and book on it.” So next time you take a city stroll, cast your mind to the city that we are yet to see. And don’t forget to wipe the imaginary mud off your boots when you get home.
Visit farmcardiff.com for more details _5
Public Art Attack
Cardiff’s landscape is bursting with pieces of art, all readily available for the public’s ocular consumption. Spaces has identified three of the best for your viewing pleasure.
Sculptor Brian Fell explained to Spaces where his inspiration came from. He said, “All hands is a nautical term and it is to do with physical labour. The sculpture is about hands grasping ropes which is what seafaring was all about.”
All H ands, m Hou se St r
Custo
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Adrian Stewart designed this light installation to create random sequences of colour, creating the effect of circles in the water’s reflection. The lights come on in random sequences, occasionally matching to create a ‘connect 4’ effect.
t 4, Connec bridge treet Wood S
Spaces came across artist Helen Bur when she was painting this piece on the wall of Cardiff’s new Fashion Quarter. Cardiff resident Helen has been giving walls in the south-west a new lease of life, as well as walls in Barcelona and Berlin.
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The
Fash i Woma on Quar t nby Stre er, et Photos courtesy of Cardiff Council
Regeneration Spotlight
PENARTH PAVILION WHERE
TThe Penarth Pavilion Project focuses on the 1920s art deco building that stands at the entrance of Penarth Pier. In the past, the Pavilion has been used for concerts, lectures, a cinema, a dance hall, a club, a restaurant, a snooker club and a gym hall.
WHO
Penarth Arts & Crafts Ltd began a publicly-funded intiative to restore the Pavilion to its former glory and create an innovative new public attraction in 2008. They won an initial grant of £99,600 from the National Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). This year, the project received a further £1.68m from HLF, £300,000 from the Welsh Government and £700,000 from the Community Asset Transfer programme.
WHAT
The refurbishment, which is estimated to cost around £4m altogether, will see the Grade II Listed Pavilion transformed into a space for exhibitions, a cinema and a bar and restaurant overlooking the Severn Estuary.
WHEN
The team behind the Penarth Pavilion Project estimate that the Pavilion will once again be open for business in November 2013.
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Events Art What I see is what I do - Norwegian Church 11 - 24 Feburary /// 10am - 6pm /// Free Hollie Roberts will be displaying a number of her works of the sights in Bath, Cardiff Bay and Abergavanney. Her works are mostly architectural and, as she describes them, are of “a sharp, punky style.”
Education Squatters/Travellers Workshop & Skillshare - Venue TBC 20 December /// 3pm /// Free Gremlin Alley is holding the first of their monthly hour-long event discussing the laws of squatting, and how to squat legally. This is followed by an hour of exchanging skills of how to secure and occupy spaces A Spatial Strategy for the Cardiff City-Region - Glamorgan Building 16 January /// 5:30pm /// Free once you have registered This evening will explore the Cardiff city-region’s problems when it comes to spacial planning. CPLAN students and the Innovation and Engagement Unit will illustrate the issues faced, and respond to them. From 5:30, there is a drinks reception, and the exhibiton starts at 6.
Music and Gigs Cellar Door - New Year’s Eve Spectacular - The Vaults 31 December /// 10pm - 5am /// £15 See in the New Year with style in the bank vaults of the Grade II listed Natwest building in the Bay. The night will feature some of Cardiff’s biggest DJs, and an animation team has created high definition animations and film to compliment the architecture of the room.
_S Cover photo by Noel Reynolds